'Antiques Roadshow' guest struggles to breathe after hearing the value of her husband's memento
Emotional reactions to appraisal of items with sentimental value attached to them aren't unexpected on "Antiques Roadshow," but a woman was a bit too shocked after learning that her late husband's prized possession was worth six figures. The item was a sculpture made by Noah Purifoy Watts using nothing but debris, and while the guest thought very little of it, the show's expert, Jason Preston, revealed that the item was quite significant and worth about $125,000. Hearing this, the guest's jaw dropped before she struggled to speak and breathe.
In the episode, the guest shared the incredible story of how the item was made and gifted to her late husband. "It's called '66 Signs of Neon.' The artist is Noah Purifoy. He was an African American who passed away a few years ago in a house fire in the high desert. But in 1965, there were the Watts riots in Los Angeles. It was a terrible, terrible time. And Noah lived and worked in Watts. Well, he was so distressed, he went and gathered up the debris, and this debris consisted of blood, metal, neon, and glass. And it's all fused together. And he made these sculptures, whatever you want to call them. He gave this one to my late husband, who at that time was the assistant director of the California Arts Commission. We got it in 1966. So I've had it now 50 years," she shared with Preston.
Taking over from the guest, Preston explained that the artist was the first African-American full-time student at the Chouinard Institute, now called CalArts, in California. He added that his career began during the 1965 Watts riots, and his first large body of sculpture also came from the debris that he gathered. "And his quote was, 'While it was still smoldering.' Purifoy had been on the Watts Towers Arts Council and was really involved in art in Watts. And so this really shook him and affected him deeply," Preston added.
He explained that the artist took the debris and expressed his frustration with the bias and violence through art and his words. "I think what we have here is an incredibly powerful depiction of the strife and the angst and the violence that came about during the Watts riots. And it's from the burning of buildings that we've got the melted metal that melted together with glass. And I believe his saying that 'and blood' is perhaps metaphorical, but there was a lot of violence and quite a few deaths in the riots," the expert noted.
He further explained that the sculptures in the group were made to show the "66 Signs of Neon," and it wasn't the title of the sculpture, as it was a group. "It was said that you could still smell the burnt wood and metal smell on his sculpture," he noted. "To put Purifoy in the context of importance in African-American art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art dedicated a solo show to him last summer in 2015, and it was so popular it got extended," Preston further added to set up the appraisal. Coming to the estimate, Preston said, "I would advise insuring this for $125,000." This took the guest's breath away as she struggled to speak.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! You're kidding me! Really? Really?! Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness!" she finally said after taking a deep breath. The appraiser assured her that it was an important piece, and the guest shockingly revealed that she hadn't got the item insured for even one dollar!
